Julian Bond backs IRS tea party targeting

Civil rights icon Julian Bond defended the IRS for targeting tea party groups, on Tuesday, labeling them “the Taliban wing of American politics.”

“I think it’s entirely legitimate to look at the tea party,” Bond said on MSNBC. “Here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who’ve tried as best they can to harm President Obama in every way they can.”

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Bond was chairman of the NAACP in 2004, when the IRS opened an investigation into their nonprofit status following the group’s convention, where Bond delivered a speech criticizing President George W. Bush, and the IRS alleged they passed out fliers opposing Bush’s reelection.

“I don’t think there are any parallels to what we’re seeing today,” he said. “Of course we were unfairly targeted.”

Bond said he hoped the tea party’s treatment wouldn’t lead to its reemergence as a political force.

“I hope they don’t get any more air,” Bond said. “They are the Taliban wing of American politics. We all ought to be a little worried about them.”